Hack to The Future

In Hack to the Future: How World Governments Relentlessly Pursue and Domesticate Hackers, veteran information security professional Emily Crose delivers a fascinating discussion of the United States government's nuanced and complex relationship with hacker culture over the last few decades.

In the book, you'll explore the role played by hackers in U.S. domestic and foreign policy, as well as in geopolitics around the world. You'll discover how hackers have changed the course of history via major, well-publicized events, as well as through more subtle and less discussed means. The author also explores how the U.S. government's treatment of hackers has changed the way they've been treated by members of the public, state actors, and other hackers.

Crose explains how the United States managed to weaponize a subculture originally viewed as misanthropic, awkward, and insignificant into a major lever of geopolitical power. She discusses major cybersecurity events, including the releases of the Morris worm and the Melissa virus, and how they changed the way hackers were perceived and treated in the United States. Crose also examines how and why hacking went from being a hobby for socially awkward young males to a sophisticated and professional vocation over only a few decades.

Perfect for anyone interested in the intersection of hacking, technology, information security, geopolitics, foreign policy, and government, Hack to the Future is a can't-miss history of the complicated and fraught relationship between hackers and the U.S. government actors who sought to wield them as a novel and effective weapon.